


Four Years Later

by JustSomeStranger



Series: No Dignity in Childbirth [3]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Ableism, Ableist Language, Acceptance, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Childhood, Disability, Disabled Character, Kid Fic, M/M, Male Slash, Minor Original Character(s), Mpreg, Original Character(s), Parenthood, Post Mpreg, Post-Canon, Slash, Social Commentary, asd, oc child - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 09:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5922826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustSomeStranger/pseuds/JustSomeStranger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few years have passed and Anne Marie is growing up fast. But much of her growing up isn't going according to plan, and Spy is determined to find out why.</p>
<p>Warning: This fic contains ableist language and attitudes that were held by people at the time this fic is set in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Years Later

"Why does she keep doing that?" Spy huffed nervously as he watched the now four year old Anne Marie twirling around and around in one corner of the room. She had her arms stretched out, and was smiling and giggling to herself.   
  
"Beats me" Sniper replied, scratching the back of his neck.  
  
...  
  
Over the years they'd watched Anne Marie grow, they couldn't deny that their daughter's behaviour was… odd. For one thing, she hardly took notice of anyone. She never played with other children, instead preferring to play by herself or spin in a corner, or follow insects wherever they went. This had lead to many an incident where either Spy or Sniper would lose her the moment they turned their backs, leading them to run around like headless chickens trying to find her.  
  
She would rock back and fourth whenever she sat down or flap her arms and giggle whenever she got exited as well. She would also cover her ears and sometimes scream whenever she heard certain sounds or when there was a sudden loud noise. This had lead to several incidences of Spy pulling out his revolver and Sniper his kukri in automatic response, thinking they were under attack, then point them at nearby people and threaten to kill them if they dare lay a finger on her.  
  
She wouldn't look anyone in the eye Spy had noticed, instead looking at other parts of his face or body, or just stare off into the distance with a blank expression. But what was most worrying to Spy and Sniper was that at age four, she still hadn't stared speaking.   
  
Sniper at first thought Anne Marie was just a late bloomer. "It's probably a phase" He had reasoned, "She'll grow out of it".  
  
"I hope so" Spy had answered, taking a long, anxious drag on his cigarette.  
  
But as she'd grown older, her behaviour didn't change, it became apparent that there was something more to it than that.  
  
By that time, Spy and Sniper's contracts had run out, but they still worked for Mann.co in other ways. Sniper would be sent out to assassinate certain enemies of the company, and Spy would do the same while also infiltrating them to find out what he could about them. But his job mostly consisted of him sitting behind a desk, either cracking codes, or forging identities and documents. Espionage wasn't usually exciting and adventurous despite what those Bond movies would have you believe.   
  
Sure this work was in some ways more dangerous, since if they got killed they no longer had respawn to bring them back. But the pay was good. Not as much as they used to get under their contracts, but still decent. So they couldn't complain. But it did mean less time with their daughter than either of them would've liked, who often had to go stay with relatives of Sniper while both of them worked.   
  
Sniper was the registered father. Spy had very little to do with Anne Marie, on paper that was, pretending that he was some distant relative. It was for the best Spy had said. After all, he couldn't risk his enemies finding out about her and Sniper.   
  
The registered mother was a fabricated wife of Sniper who'd died in childbirth. Miss Pauling had done well to forge all the documents.  
  
"That don't mean you get to get out of changing her diapers mate" Sniper had said, much to Spy's disappointment. He hated diaper changing.  
  
...  
  
Spy took a long drag of his cigarette, then continued to stare at his daughter. Trying to make sense of her behaviour. "We must find out why she acts like this" Spy concluded.  
  
"You think there's somethin' wrong with her?" Sniper asked, getting defensive.  
  
"She should be speaking by now Sniper. She pays no attention to anything that has less than six legs. She still isn't toilet trained. And she should certainly not be doing… _that_ " Spy said, looking at the spinning girl.  
  
"Hey I did similar stuff like that at her age, I grew out of it, she will too" Sniper retorted.  
  
Spy gave him a baffled look. "Now I see where she gets it" he remarked.   
  
"Oi!" retorted Sniper, scowling at him.   
  
"I'm joking" the frenchman chuckled. Spy gave him a playful smirk, making Sniper cheeks go a little red. And lightening the mood, but mostly making Sniper's cheeks turn red.  
  
None the less, the frenchman could tell that Sniper was in denial. 'There's nothing wrong with her' he ultimately kept saying. Spy disagreed. Having enough of her spinning, Spy went over to Anne Marie.  
  
"Arrête ça" he told her, grabbing her shoulders to stop her. Anne Marie flinched at his touch. That was another thing, she hated being touched at times by anyone. Anne Marie started squirming in his grip, whining as she did. Spy let go of her and watched her run off. He sighed. The frenchman turned to his Aussie partner, his expression cold. "Sniper. We, get, her, seen, to. Now" he ordered.  
  
"… Alright fine, if you're so bloody insistent" Sniper finally gave in. Though he didn't like the idea of having to pay for his daughter to go see a shrink when she was perfectly fine.  
  
…  
  
When they first received Anne Marie's diagnosis, they didn't know what the psychiatrist was talking about. They'd never even heard of autism until now, or that that was even a word. But apparently, that's what she had.  
  
"And what exactly is this 'autism'?" Spy asked, appearing disinterested. Though Sniper knew that was just a front.  
  
"It is a type of developmental disorder" explained the psychiatrist, a rather plump middle aged white man with a rather pompous way about him. He clearly thought of himself as intellectually superior to them. "It impairs the child's ability to communicate with others, causing it to become withdrawn from society. Very little is known of it as of yet, but it is thought to affect at least one in every ten thousand children, more so boys than girls. It's, rather unfortunate that your child has been inflicted with this disease. Being a girl, the odds should've been in her favour".  
  
Sniper was fuming. He glared at the psychiatrist and clenched his fists. How _dare_ he talk about Anne Marie as if she were nothing but some, some… _thing_ _!_ Some freak of nature! Especially since she was just right behind them and could probably hear what they were saying, even if she may not have understood.   
  
Spy also glared at the man, sitting back in in the chair and taking another drag of his cigarette.  
  
"And how do we cure her of this?" Spy enquired.  
  
"I'm afraid, there is no cure for this condition. At least, as of yet" the pompous shrink said, "But there are various treatment options, namely speech therapy and various forms of behavioral therapy. There are also medications that are on offer. They're experimental though".  
  
"Alright, I've heard enough" said Sniper, getting out of his chair.  
  
"What are you doing?" Spy asked.  
  
"Um not having my daughter treated like some bloody science experiment. I'm taking her home" he said, taking Anne Marie by the hand, then picking her up.  
  
"Might I remind you Mr Mundy" the psychiatrist cut in, "That children like her need treatment in order to have any quality of life. Otherwise she'll never learn to talk or form social relationships with others. And would eventually end up living in an institution, never contributing towards society".  
  
"She ain't gonna live in any bloody institution!" Sniper snapped back at him. And with that, he walked out with Anne Marie in his arms. Spy then got up, fixing his tie.  
  
"Thank you for the diagnosis doctor" he said in a deadpan tone. "And for the bleak outlook you have given us". He then turned and left as well.  
  
…  
  
"Now what?" said Sniper, as both he and Spy watched Anne Marie play on her own with some stuffed animals.  
  
The frenchman sighed. "I do not know" he replied, sounding defeated.  
  
All that ran through their heads was _Why her?_ One in ten thousand, yet she got it. It just seemed so unfair. All their hopes and expectations for the future had been dashed. Now they faced the challenge of raising a mentally disabled child who's future was uncertain.   
  
"You said you used to be just like her" Spy suddenly mentioned.  
  
Sniper turned and stared at Spy, dumbstruck. "… What, yer saying I might have this autism as well?" he gave a nervous laugh.  
  
"You were always the more aloof member of the team" Spy said, "And you do have some bizarre habits, like pissing in jars".  
  
"That don't mean anything" retorted Sniper, "I was speaking at a normal age, and I'm just not good at talking to people like you are".  
  
Spy raised an eyebrow at him. "Yet you said you behaved just like Anne Marie when you were her age".  
  
"… Like I said, I grew out of it".  
  
Spy chuckled, disagreeing with the Aussie, "But you still behaved like she is behaving now non?"  
  
Sniper's words caught in his throat. In truth, he didn't want to know if he had autism or not. He remembered the times he'd called the enemy Pyro a mental defective or a whackjob whenever he dominated them. If that's what he thought of the Pyro, then what did that make him? And more importantly, what did that make Anne Marie? He looked back towards the little girl with the toys.  
  
"I… I guess I-"  
  
Just then, Anne Marie got up and brought one of the stuffed toys she was playing with and held it up for Spy to see. It was a spider. Anne Marie loved insects, but spiders were her favourite. Spy accepted the child's offering, allowing a smile to spread across his face.  
  
"Merci" he said.  
  
Anne Marie giggled, flapping her arms slightly.  
  
"We'll get through this" reassured Sniper.  
  
"We don't have a choice" Spy agreed.  
  
"Ya make it sound like we're goin' on a suicide mission" joked Sniper.  
  
"Who knows? Maybe we are" teased Spy. "We'll start by getting her speech therapy".  
  
"Ah not with the bloody therapy crap again" Sniper moaned.  
  
"Sniper, she needs to start learning how to talk and how to use the toilet. So we will then be one step closer to keeping her out of the institutions and towards having a normal life" Spy said in a matter-of-fact way.  
  
"… Ah alright" Sniper gave in, "We'll do the speech therapy, and the toilet training, but she don't need the other stuff".  
  
"You don't want her to behave like a normal child?" Spy raised an eyebrow at him again.  
  
"She don't need to. She's perfect the way she is" Sniper answered.  
  
"I suppose it will not be too bad, having to share a home with two idiosyncratic people instead of one" Spy remarked.  
  
"Oi!" Sniper protested, "Don't push yer luck Spook".  
  
Spy just gave him another playful smirk. "Wouldn't dream of it" he replied, draping his arm around Sniper's shoulder and pulled him closer, planting a kiss on him which caused Sniper's whole face to turn red. Yeah, they can handle it. It would be difficult at times yes. But no way were they gonna back down from this challenge.

**Author's Note:**

> Accept your child for who they are, not what you want them to be.


End file.
